Mayors from around the country are converging on the nation's capital to develop national urban policy with a united voice.
It's the winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington D.C. and Lima Mayor David Berger is there. Berger is currently the co-chair of the Mayor's Water Council and says they are all talking about the recent passage of "The Water Infrastructure Improvement Act" that will make amendments to the Clean Water Act allowing cities to prioritize the investments required through unfunded mandates. He says the next step is to make sure it is made effective.
"We believe that it is essential for the Ohio EPA to, along with the State of Ohio, the governor's office, to actually be supportive in an active way of every community's desire to have an integrated plan," explained Mayor Berger.
Berger says they will now start to look at how they can get additional bipartisan support from the federal government to meet concerns of other local infrastructure needs.
"The federal government should step up in terms of partnering with the communities around the nation to look at roads and bridges, water and sewer, transportation systems, there's a whole raft of things that need to be accomplished in our communities and we believe the federal government has a role to play in that," added Mayor Berger.
One of the primary goals of the conference of mayors is to strengthen federal-city relationships and ensure federal policy meets urban needs.
